Haitian Immigrants Who Helped Lift An NC Town Face Deportation

Turkey feathers line the road in front of a 675,000-square-foot Butterball facility where 17 million turkeys are processed each year at the world’s largest turkey-processing plant located in Mount Olive, N.C.

Courtesy Michael S. Williamson
/ Washington Post

Many North Carolina families spent Thursday circled around a big table and probably a big turkey. Some of these turkeys likely came from Butterball, the largest turkey processing plant in the world located in Mount Olive, North Carolina. The town struggled to get back on track after the recession until an influx of Haitian immigrants moved to the area in 2010 attracted by work at Butterball.

Listen

Listening...

/

11:52

Host Frank Stasio speaks with The Washington Post senior economics correspondent Damian Paletta about his reporting on the Haitian community in Mount Olive.

The idea was that even thought these Haitians in the U.S. were here working illegally, there's really no economy for them to go back to in Haiti. It would be even more of a humanitarian crisis if they were sent back.

These 1,500 Haitian immigrants moved to Mount Olive under temporary protected status from the U.S. government after an earthquake in Haiti. In November 2017, the Trump administration moved to end that protected status given to tens of thousands of Haitians.

If they succeed, Haitian immigrants in the country under TPS will be deported next year, which would be a significant blow to the town of Mount Olive. Host Frank Stasio speaks with Damian Paletta, senior economics correspondent with The Washington Post, about his reporting on the Haitian community in Mount Olive.

A lot of Thanksgiving dinners across the country will feature a turkey grown and processed right here in North Carolina. Butterball is headquartered here and produces about 20-percent of the nation’s turkeys.

But Butterball reports it’s coming up a little short this year with fresh orders. And in another part of the state, one of the largest turkey slaughter houses is shut down.